We go again, even if the A-League does not get where it wants to go | Jonathan Howcroft
22-Dec-2020 16:30:21 | The Guardian
The motto is doing the rounds as a competition stuck in a strange stagnance tries to move forward
“We go again” is one of the catchcries of modern football. Almost as soon as the words rushed out of Steven Gerrard’s mouth towards the climax of the 2013-14 English Premier League season they took on a life of their own, becoming shorthand for either pushing on after victory or rebounding following defeat.
The motto has been doing the rounds ahead of the new A-League season, which returns on Sunday in record time, a breezy four months since the last grand final. This is the first step in a welcome transition from a summer to a winter competition, an example of the football-first mantra that has guided James Johnson’s leadership of Football Australia. But in the short term, it means we go again with a paucity of visible marketing and an absence of hype for an opening fixture two days after Christmas, with the Boxing Day Test dominating sports coverage, and a Covid-19 flare-up threatening to once again rob the league of its unique selling point – a vibrant crowd.
Related: Sydney Test in doubt as Covid-19 outbreak wreaks havoc on Australian sport
The A-League remains without a naming-rights partner at the start of a season that is scheduled to end without the broadcast revenue upon which it has relied since inception.
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